Bonds of the Heart
by kibaskitty
Summary: Hana heals an injury as she recalls flashes of the developing bond with her inu.


**Disclaimer:**_I do not own Naruto or any of the characters, I just borrow them for my own amusement._

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Hana knelt in the dirt, frantically working on the bloody gash before her. Her mission had taken a turn for the worse and her three inu had had to step in to help her out. What was supposed to be a simple patrol on the borders of Fire country ended up as a confrontation with a group of missing nin. She assumed that they were the ones who had been causing a bit of trouble n the area and confronted them accordingly. Hana hadn't counted on the group of four having a few friends join them as backup. Outnumbered, she and her canine partners had been in dire straits. The smallest of the three had leapt in front of a barrage of kunai she hadn't been quick enough to dodge, resulting in the deep abdominal gash she was currently attempting to heal. It took all her skill as a veterinarian not to fall apart at the whines and whimpers coming from her partner and his siblings. Knowing she had to control her emotions, she recalled the night she had begun to bond with them, forming a connection deeper and more ancient than the rituals or even her clan itself. Remembering the song that had comforted them then, she began to sing quietly as she worked, the words forming a vow to the dogs who had become her own blood.

_Come stop your crying_

_It will be all right_

_Just take my hand_

_Hold it tight_

The night she had found her triplets, Hana had not known that they were orphans or that they were the only survivors of their litter. At three years old, she had only registered that the newborn puppies were crying in the night, and her Inuzuka instincts had driven her to comfort the pups. As she sat among them and gathered them to her lap, the child had begun to sing a lullaby her mother used when she had nightmares, humming in places where she couldn't remember the words.

_I will protect you_

_from all around you_

_I will be here_

_Don't you cry_

_For one so small,_

_you seem so strong_

_My arms will hold you,_

_keep you safe and warm_

As Hana sang, images of the helpless pups swam before her eyes, followed by images from her Academy and genin days. She had been as bad a troublemaker as Kiba in her day, and with three dogs to help her, had been able to pull some pranks that left Kiba wide-eyed with admiration when Tsume would recall the tales of Iruka's displeasure. As every Inuzuka had, she had grown up with the pups and formed a bond closer than partners, so close that the dogs seemed to her to be extensions of her own flesh. Since she had naturally fallen into her relationship with the three pups, the elders had allowed her to skip the ritual used to find a suitable partner, and had actually allowed her to partner with all three pups, something that hadn't happened in several generations.

_This bond between us_

_can't be broken_

_I will be here_

_Don't you cry_

She remembered the first time one of her pups was injured after she started training as a veterinarian. Hana had taken one or another of them to the veterinarian several times before for minor injuries, but once she began her training had vowed to do everything in her power to help her dogs before handing their care to another. That day, she had formed a bond of blood with her dogs, freely giving them blood from a gash on her arm as an official claim of blood kinship to the three. From that day on, they had ceased to be anything but her flesh and blood, and she'd be damned if anything happened to them on her watch.

Hana finally relaxed as the gash began to seal. Having completely exhausted her chakra, but satisfied that infection was ruled out and that the wound would not reopen before she could get back to the village, Hana lifted the huge dog in her arms and set off for Konoha. It would take two days to get there, but know that she was sure her companion was out of the woods, she could find a safe place to rest and recover her chakra that night before attempting to heal more the next day. It was as times like this that she was glad the elders had allowed her to bond with all three dogs, since she knew she cold trust the other two to keep watch that night.

_You'll be in my heart always_

_Always_

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Please let me know what you think! I'm a very music-oriented person, so I tend to come up with ideas based on songs I listen to. These stories are an attempt to keep my sanity as the craziness of the end of the semester looms over me, so I apologize for any typos or bad grammar, but I really don't have the mental will to comb over my writing very closely for such things. Thanks for reading! -kibaskitty


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